ramblings

All posts tagged: project

Because sometimes things take a little longer than planned… here’s Pt 2 of the pre-reveal. I wasn’t planning a Pt 2, but I also wasn’t planning for one of the light fittings to be broken, for the curtains to be such a pain (why are curtains always such a pain?) or for the electrician to be quite as elusive (why are electricians always elusive?) View this post on Instagram Oh my god, Monday, you've done me in! Five hours of admin followed by a four hour styling session. We are soooo nearly ready for the final reveal of this project. Curtains arriving this week, few more frames to sort and a ceiling light refitted after a small disaster. Then a bit more faffing obviously. I absolutely love the Alfred wallpaper by @anaglyptauk. It adds so much depth and texture to the room. What could have been a really stark contrast of black and red… is softened by the ornate pattern in the wallpaper. See how the light hits it in different ways? Really beautiful. More …

Charlie’s room has ended up being a much larger project that originally planned (sorry Pete). The whole design process has been bubbling away in the background for a few months now and am so excited to finally share Part 2. (Part 1 here). This kid’s bedroom is all about the plywood!! There are still plenty of pieces left to go in (carpets and single bed) but it’s the joinery that’s really transformed this room. So let’s get on with the pics shall we? Before After Before | During After I absolutely love it. It’s so mental to see an idea in your head executed so accurately. The guys from Leeds and London based Bare Joinery are mega. Give them a follow, because i’ve been bullying them to set up a proper Instagram account for months and i’m going to look like a right numpty if it’s tumbleweed. The design is a perfect marriage of function and form. I’ve finally reclaimed the living room (and several other parts of the house) and have managed to get all …

New project time everyone! Yeah yeah!! This time it’s a 1930’s house that’s recently had a lovely extension across the back. This has given them a light and airy, family friendly, open-plan kitchen-diner. And two sitting rooms. None of which they really like anymore. Including this one, which they admit they never actually use. It’s accumulated bits of furniture over the years, but now it just doesn’t work as a dining room, a living room, a study…. Let’s just say it’s lost its way. Time for a re-design, a new layout and a new purpose. Oh goodie. This room is to become the new family TV room, but in its current set up, it’s really tricky to configure the space so the seating can all get a view of a TV in one of the alcoves. After spending a good few hours playing around with potential layouts, here’s what I came up with. It’s going to be fun. The biggest change we’ve made which completely free-d up the room was to block the original entrance …

**New project klaxon** I’m not bigging myself up with the blog post title here, it’s the name of the company i’m currently working with; Brilliant Social Media. This time last year I was working on my very first commercial sized project with Visibilis, remember the one with the geometric wall? Nearly a year later, i’m onto my second. Brilliant are based at Mabgate business centre, a very understated but pretty cool industrial building built in 1890 as a textile mill. Mabgate Business Centre The building has recently undergone four years of restoration and refurbishment, now providing affordable work spaces with “a modern work environment for young companies”. Based just on the periphery of Leeds city centre, it’s an excellent location. Mabgate Business Centre It’s all pretty nice in here. Exposed brick walls, high ceilings, large windows and lots of light. All of the office spaces have been decorated and carpeted ready for their new tenants. Here’s an example below: Mabgate Business Centre They’re great rooms, but quite formal. Brilliant who are clearly a very creative team …

It’s been a while since i’ve written about the William Morris project. You can read the last instalment here. Let’s just say, this one has been a slow burner. What was initially going to be one bedroom redesign, quickly turned into a complete renovation of three bedrooms, the landing and staircase. So…. things have taken considerably longer, as i’m sure you’d expect. Here was the room on my very first visit. Pretty much everything needed to go. Everything apart from the William Morris wallpaper, the beautiful Deco chairs and the antique chest of drawers. The room was stripped right back to the bare bones. The overpowering built in wardrobes were ripped out, missing coving, dado and picture rails replaced…. Carpet was ripped up and floorboards repaired, sanded and varnished, radiator moved and re-plumbed, switches and sockets rewired. Walls were then re-skimmed ready for the decorator. We’ve still got a couple of bits left to sort in this room, but I thought you’d like to see where we’re at at the mo. The floorboards now revived and full …

Am so excited to share the final reveal of this project with you. I’ve been working closely with the homeowners for the last five months and i’m kind of wow-ed with the final design. If you’d like to read all about the beginnings then, jump over here for a catch up. Today’s post is all about the final photos and a shopping list for any of you out there that fancy any of these pieces for yourself. Let’s go. Before Here is their large Edwardian front room at the beginning of July this year. These guys had just moved in and were wanting a formal, but statement front room fit for drinks, music and entertaining. After And here it is now. It’s just so cosy isn’t it? In fact, after doing my final hour of faffing and half way through me taking photos, I was desperate for a quick cat nap on the sofa in front of that roaring fire. So nice. Before Everything in the room was going. Apart from the two made.com Ritchie sofas and …

If you’re in or close to Leeds, you may have heard me on Wednesday last week. You might have mistaken the noise for a small pig being squeezed in a vice, but no, it was me. Screaming. I don’t remember the last time I felt so angry (it was probably the week before) but you know you’ve completely lost your shit when your husband comes home from work early. Without you having to even ask. Don’t jump! We’ve been waiting patiently for our staircase for 11 weeks now. Keep getting told, they’ll be started on it soon and it’ll be another week. Each and every time a new trade comes in to crack on with their job, I get; “When’s the staircase coming?” “Where’s the staircase? “Haven’t you got your staircase yet?” Erm, yes, don’t you like it. It’s there. We’ve had an aluminium staircase made to look just like a bloody ladder. **eye roll** The last we were told (Monday 14th November) is the staircase was being “made right now”. Factor in two weeks to make …

As you can see, i’ve been keeping really upbeat since my last loft post. Full of the joy of life I am. Honestly, i’m a pleasure to be around right now. View this post on Instagram Week 8 in the loft conversion house. Losing the will to live. Just like Bernard the orange plant. Will it ever end? Will it? Will it? A post shared by making spaces (@makingspacesnet) on Nov 13, 2016 at 5:18am PST We’ve just finished week nine and if i’m honest, I thought we’d be done by now. Not 100% done, but I thought the actual build would have been winding down. Alas, that is not the case. Things here are continuing to move slowly, but we’re certainly moving now. And there is a teeny tiny sliver of light shining at the end of a long, dark (and snowy) tunnel. That’s me sounding positive btw. The plastering has finally commenced (hooray!) and our plasterer has been busy working his way around the bedroom and all the way down our new gable wall. …

The last time I wrote about this project, we were round about here: The entire room had been ripped out, wallpaper stripped, carpets ripped up, radiator removed, floorboards being repaired. Technically a building site. The room was about to be skimmed from head to toe in preparation for its new look. What I didn’t tell you, is that the homeowner, in her excitement to see her own bedroom transform, also began ripping out another two bedrooms. In for a penny… This the the second double bedroom after prising off years of wallpaper and flooring . Alas, I didn’t get proper before photos of the room, as this and the third bedroom were originally planned for 2017. Every square inch of wall, floor and ceiling needed work. Not to mention new radiators, sockets and switches. Here is the same room after it’d been skimmed with its new matt black radiator (from Screwfix of all places) leaning precariously against its new home. The magic of freshly plastered walls never fails to fill me with joy and happiness. And I say …

Firstly, i’d just like to apologise for the radio silence over the last week. I think it’s fair to say, this loft conversion is starting to get to me. Like, properly. It’s not the mess, dirt, cold, the fact I can’t walk down the hall without banging my knee on a boxed toilet or the plastic floor covering that crackles when you trot over it. No, not these things. It’s the fact I can’t actually sit down for more than 10 minutes at a time and concentrate on ANYTHING as our front door is moving continuously with various trades coming in and out. I’ve never made so many cups of tea. I’ve also never got through so many bags of sugar. They’re all “two sugar” guys. Two! The other thing my busy mind is struggling with, is the continual trouble shooting. Overall, i’m a negative, pessimistic person. I focus entirely on worst case scenarios which makes me really good at project management. How does that help? I combat anything that might go wrong before it actually …